CLARKSTON, Ga. — The controversial City Manager of Clarkston is out, effective immediately.
At a special meeting held on Monday night, city council members approved what they call a “separation agreement” with Shawanna Qawiy. She will leave immediately, following numerous complaints about her from city employees, including police officers.
And according to a council member, the city is now looking at paying Qawiy tens of thousands of dollars to do nothing over the next several months.
Mayor Beverly Burks said that the city and Qawiy came to a mutual separation agreement “in the best interests of the city,” Burks said.
Qawiy was not present for the council’s vote Monday night, which was decided earlier in private. There was no public discussion. The vote was unanimous; all six council members voted for it. Mayor Burks did not cast a vote because the mayor casts votes only to break ties.
But she said she supports the agreement.
“It’s in the best interests for everyone, and so we’re going to move forward,” Burks said. When asked why it is in the city's best interests, Burks responded, “It was in the best interests so that we can go ahead and do the business of the city.”
Qawiy had been accused for weeks--by police officers and other city employees--of creating a toxic work environment at city hall. They blamed her as one of the reasons that half of the police officers quit the force in the past couple of months.
But Qawiy has said she has done all she can to improve the police department and city government.
Also, the city’s finance director has raised questions about Qawiy's management of city finances, which she and council members had not publicly addressed.
And at the previous council meeting on August 3, Qawiy did not respond specifically to any of that. Instead, she made it clear to the council that she wanted to stay on with the city, and believed that since June of 2022, when she began as City Manager, she’d compiled a successful record.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed serving as City Manager,” Qawiy said at that meeting last week. “We have accomplished numerous milestones and undertaken crucial projects for the betterment of our community.”
With Qawiy out, Clarkston residents who support her declined to comment following the city council’s vote, other than to say they’re saddened.
One of Qawiy’s critics, Clarkston resident Andrew Stanley, said after the vote that it was the right decision.
“It’s a sigh of relief,” Stanley said, “but also it’s a good first step. Let’s see where we move forward from here. And it’s very, very encouraging.”
Council member Jamie Carroll told 11Alive that the separation agreement would pay Qawiy eight months' salary: two months' notice plus six months' severance. Carroll said Qawiy was earning $135,000 a year, so he said she would receive about $90,000, before taxes, in the next eight months.
That’s all that Carroll would say.
“I can’t really comment on the reasons behind the decisions," Carroll said. "Part of the agreement is that we agreed not to state anything, besides that it’s a mutual separation and we both wish each other well.... I’m not going to say anything derogatory about Ms. Qawiy other than we just wish her well, and I think it’s time for both sides to move on.”
Also Monday night, the city council formally amended the budget to include another raise for police officers.
Starting salary will now be $60,000 a year, to make it comparable to the starting salaries in other metro Atlanta police departments.
Police Chief Christine Hudson said word about that higher pay, first discussed by the council last week, is already getting out.
“We’ve got officers that were going to leave that are now going to be staying,” Chief Hudson said, “we’re getting calls from people who are interested in coming to work here, now.”
Hudson had said earlier that because of the continuing resignations of police officers, her department would be down to nine officers before the end of August—the department’s authorized staffing is 21 officers. As of Monday, she said, 12 officers were on the job.
“It’s not going to hit nine officers anymore," she said, "we’re on the uprise.”
As for Qawiy’s replacement, the city was expected to announce on Tuesday who the interim City Manager will be.